Wall Street was lower in midday trade on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.22 percent lower to 13,619.81.

The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.36 percent to 2,660.48, while the S&P 500 was down 0.44 percent to 1,525.12.

An already unsettled market was looking forward to a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, in which he was expected to make comments that could indicate a coming rise in interest rates based on concerns about inflation.

In addition, the dollar hit a new historic low against the euro. Several companies issued outlooks that were less than comforting.

For example, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) said that its earnings will be lower than had been hoped this year, at least partly due to slowdowns in the housing market.

Despite that negative report, Home Depot added 44 cents to $40.67.

Sears (NAS: SHLD) was not so lucky, dropping $15.09 to $156.32 after it said that sales have been weak in appliances as well as for other products.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, discount retailer Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) fell 84 cents to $47.66.

Among house builders, DR Horton (NYSE: DHR) was 52 cents lower to $19.27 after it said that orders were down in its fiscal third quarter from the same period a year ago and that it expects the market to “remain challenging”.

Gainers on the day included Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), which saw share prices rise $1.71 to $36.14 after it raised its full-year outlook.

Carmakers were also higher after JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) issued upgrades to both Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM).

Ford added 16 cents to $9.24, while GM was 91 cents higher to $37.68.

The New York equities markets were higher in the afternoon on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.4 percent to 12,299.57 after going as high as 12,325.91 earlier in the session, a new all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite had added 0.2 percent to 2,447.67, while the S&P 500 was 0.3 percent higher to 1,400.89.

Dell Computer dropped 3.5 percent to $24.86 after it delayed its preliminary third-quarter report due to a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into the company’s accounting practices. On the other hand, Hewlett Packard added 0.7 percent to $40.07 ahead of its quarterly report, due to be released after the close of trade.

Elsewhere among technology-related sectors, Applied Materials was 4.2 percent lower to $17.87 on a warning that sales will decline on the order of 5 to 10 percent. Internet search engine Google, however, added 0.8 percent to $495.80.

There was bids news in the media sector. Clear Channel Communications, the radio station operator, added 3.9 percent to $35.46 and went as high as $35.88 after it agreed to be acquired by a group of private equity firms for $19 billion. Meanwhile, Readers Digest added 7.8 percent to $16.69 after it agreed to be purchased by a group of investors.

In the retail sector, Sears dropped 5.4 percent to $169.51 after earnings were lower than had been anticipated.

Wall Street was working on a fourth day of gains in a row at midday on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 percent higher to 11,359.86, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.7 percent to 2,163.75, and the S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 1,298.22.

The semiconductor sector was up as Advanced Micro Devices was 7.7 percent higher to $24.31 on an upgrade from Citigroup, which upped the chipmaker’s recommendation from “hold” to “buy” after reports that Dell is poised to use more AMD chips in its computers. PMC-Sierra gained 8.4 percent to $6.62 said it had not uncovered any deliberate misconduct by its employees in relation to the granting of stock options.

Computer maker Hewlett-Packard added 4.3 percent to $35.92 when it announced that it would conduct a $6 billion share buy-back. HP’s earnings in its third quarter were above analyst estimates.

Ebay, which has been seeing losses this year, was 5.8 percent higher at mid-session, to $27.32.

The oil sector declined as crude oil prices dropped again, as ConocoPhillips dropped 0.8 percent to $66.20 and Valero Energy declined by 2.7 percent to $61.30.

Retailer Sears Holdings was 4.2 percent lower to $143.77 even though it said its quarterly earnings had gone up by 83 percent. Investors were concerned about slowing sales.

The New York equities markets had moved very little by midday on Thursday after sell-offs on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat, losing only 5,52 points to 11,200.09. The Nasdaq Composite was up by just 3.24 points to 2,199.04, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.19 points to 1,269.13.

Gains in the retail sector helped the S&P. Limited Brands was up 5.4 percent to $26.66 after a quarterly report that showed income up 19 percent in the first quarter. The report persuaded Morgan Stanley to upgrade the clothing retailer from “equal weight” to “overweight”. Sears Holdings also revealed a good earnings report, leading to a gain of 12.4 percent to $153.09.

In the steel sector, Nucor was up 1.9 percent to $107.45 after it said it will build a plant in the Western US. US Steel, meanwhile, added 2.2 percent to $65.70.

Burger King added 4.2 percent to $17.72 and more than 15 million shares were traded as the fast-food chain began trade on the stock market.

Pharmaceutical company Merck was up 0.8 percent to $34.62 in anticipation of an advisory committee meeting at the Food and Drug Administration which will look at a drug intended to prevent viruses that are believed to cause cervical cancer.

In the computer sector, Hewlett-Packard was up 2.2 percent to $32.85 on an upgrade from “under weight” to “equal weight” by Morgan Stanley.

There was little movement in New York equities markets by midday on Wednesday on continuing concerns that interest rates will continue to rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1 percent higher to 11,156.78, while the Nasdaq Composite was slightly lower at 2,295.83 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.1 percent to 1,296.31.

Banks were struggling as quarterly reports continued to come in or be due soon. Lehman Brothers said their first quarter earnings were up 24 percent but still lost 0.7 percent early and struggled to stay even by midday at $145.28. Bear Stearns, due to report Thursday, was down 0.5 percent to $133.88 and Goldman Sachs dropped 1.1 percent to $147.71 on profit-taking.

Sears Holdings, which owns not only Sears but K-Mart, gained 10.1 percent to $130.04 on its earnings reports, which came in much higher than had been expected. Elsewhere in the retail sector, drugstore chain CVS dropped 2.7 percent to $29.74 on the report that the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an informal inquiry into the company’s accounting practices.

An investigation into alleged wrongdoing also hurt tax preparer H&R Block, which lost 4.3 percent to $21.05. New York State Attorney Eliot Spitzer announced that his office is looking into charges that the company has urged clients to invest their tax refunds in retirement accounts that do not generate enough interest to cover account fees.

Railroads did well on the day after increased price estimates from Merrill Lynch when Union Pacific upped its estimate of first-quarter profits by 20 percent. Union Pacific was up 5.3 percent to $89.76. Among other railroads, Burlington Northern Santa Fe advanced 4.9 percent to $80.24 and Norfolk Southern gained 3.3 percent to $53.21.

The New York equities markets were down on Wednesday as crude oil prices rose yet again and as another hurricane threatens the US mainland before the business community has yet been able to assess the full impact of Hurricane Katrina.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 percent to close at 10,378.03, the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,106.64, and the S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent to 1,210.20.

The oil sector defined the downward trend of the day. Chevron was up 0.4 percent to $64.27, ExxonMobil rose 0.7 percent to $64.97, Murphy Oil gained 2 percent to $50.92, and ConocoPhillips added 2.2 percent to $70.43. Among refiners, Valero Energy gained 3.6 percent to $113.14, while Sunoco was up 4.5 percent to $78.10.

Another notable gainer on the day was FedEx, which gained 8 percent to $83.15 on an upgraded earnings forecast for the year to May 2006.

Among losers was cosmetics company Avon Products, which fell 11.8 percent to $27 as it became the latest company to blame a cut it its forecast for earnings this year on higher oil costs.

Among department stores, Sears lost 3.7 percent to $115.15 and Wal-Mart dropped 1.7 percent to $42.49.

At least part of this downtrend was due to a warning from the National Retail Federation that holiday sales growth in the US would be only 5 percent this year, compared to last year’s growth of 6.7 percent.

This smaller growth forecast was blamed on falling consumer sentiment. In the airlines sector, Continental Airlines fell 8.6 percent on the day to $9.91 as Houston, one of its hubs, prepared to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Rita.